Trial starts in murder of 80-year-old man

A jury will soon decide whether a career burglar murdered an elderly Spokane Valley man in 2008.

David K. Brewczynski, 44, is accused of killing 80-year-old Kenneth Cross in a botched burglary at Cross’ Boone Avenue home on Sept. 20, 2008.

A week after the murder, police found Cross’ identification and other personal items in a storage unit Brewczynski rented in southeast Spokane County.

Forensic experts say a bloody shoe print in Cross’ house could match a shoe found in Brewczynski’s home, Deputy Prosecutor Steve Garvin said in his opening statement Wednesday.

Garvin said evidence shows Brewczynski is the killer. But public defender Derek Reid pointed to conflicting statements made by Cross’ housekeeper, Teresa M. Nelson, in an effort to persuade jurors “the government hasn’t done their job.”

Investigators who interviewed Nelson the day of the murder “described her as nervous, fidgety,” Reid said. “At one point, without an explanation, she says ‘I didn’t kill him. I didn’t have anything to do with it,’ ” Reid said.

Read the rest of my story here.

Past coverage:

Burglar’s storage unit yields dead man’s ID

Murder victim may have been targeted

Accused killer pleads not guilty